Servants of the Emperor
by general-tommy
Summary: The life of a Guardsman is a rough one.  A Whiteshield, even worse.  Here is the private diary of one such Whiteshield from Cadia, as he soon learns the true horrors of the grim dark galaxy of Warhammer 40,000.  Rate M for strong violence and language


(A/N: For those who wonder, no, I haven't given up on my other fanfic, "The Legal WAAAAAAAGH!" I just need something to help get the juices flowing again, and this'll work quite nicely. And for the record, I do have a copy of The Imperial Infantryman's Uplifting Primer, so expect references to it)

A Guardsman's life is simple: Go here, and slay the enemies of Man. Ever since I was small, I was raised to fight. Being a Cadian, we were all raised to fight. I was taught how to field-strip and reassemble my own lasgun before I was taught to read or write. What would sound odd to those who live on a nice, safe Imperial World is just a fact of life here on Cadia. We live right in the path of the Cadian Gate, the largest stable passageway through the infamous Eye of Terror, where the heretical Chaos Space Marines live.

Blasted heretics. Turning away from the God-Emperor's light, and going down the path of heresy. Every time I see a heretic, I take satisfaction in bringing The Emperor's justice down upon them. Now, I've reached the rite of passage for all men on Cadia. I have hereby been inducted into the Whiteshield crops, in the Cadian 212th Infantry Regiment of the Imperial Guard. They're technically called "probitors", but almost everybody calls us "Whiteshields", because our only identification is the white helmet stripes on our Flak armor. I pray to the Emperor that I shall not falter.

Anyways, about me. Name's Joesph Edinson. There's not a whole lot that can be said about me. I've done very well at my job (how else would I manage to reach the ranks of the Imperial Guard?), and I've done well at putting down the blasphemous servants of the Ruinous Powers. Due to living so close to the Cadian Gate, we have Chaos cults coming up every other day. I wasn't around during the Black Crusades though, even though I would've wanted to be there to kill the fallen Space Marines.

Like everyone of the Guard, I've been given a copy of The Imperial Infantryman's Uplifting Primer, Damocles Gulf Edition. As I write on this data-slate, I'm on an Imperial Cruiser, the _Hand of Ascension_. I was given my quarters, and now I'm in the lounging area. Apparently I'm sharing my quarters with my squadmates and some Catachans. My squadmates are all Whiteshields, like myself. The Catachans are actual Guardsmen.

The Catachan Sergeant looked over to me and said, "Welcome rook. Given that you're a Whiteshield, I'll say this simply: don't listen to the 'Know your enemy' section in the Uplifting Primer. Trust me, just don't."

Like most Catachans, he was a very well-built man, eschewing the flak armor for a t-shirt. He, and his entire squad, carried steel-alloyed knives, and had red bandanas on their heads. He looked like a veteran to the field of battle.

I nodded my head. "Sir?" I asked. "Would you mind explaining?"

The Sergeant chuckled; his thick brow and large chin making him look a bit odd while doing so. "You see, I've fought nearly every damn bastard in the book. Eldar, Orks, Tyranids, Tau, hell, once I wound up fighting the Necrons, who aren't covered in the book. One thing you learn is that they are lying to you about everything. The enemies of man aren't as weak as they make it out to be."

"We are gifted by the light of the God-Emperor of Man!" I argued. "To think that we cannot win is heresy!"

"It's not that we can't win. After all, I'm still alive, ain't I? It's simply that it isn't as easy as the book makes it out to be. There's some genuinely helpful stuff in there, such as survival tips and some general rules of engagement, but the stuff it says about the enemies of man is a load of shit. The only things that aren't a load of shit are that you shoot the big 'Nids, and you shoot the Tau Ethereals. Course, they're lying as to why you do shoot the Ethereals. You'll have a real trial by fire when we arrive."

A very awkward silence fell in the cabin. My squadmates had a very nervous look on their faces, and I'm pretty damn sure I did as well. The Catachans' hard faces gave us a steely gaze. Especially directed at me. I nervously shifted around. Eventually, the Sergeant broke the silence. "Don't worry about it until then though."

I nodded. "Understood, sir," I answered, looking around for my lasgun, having nearly forgotten to give it the daily cleaning ritual. I found it right where I put it, along with my cleaning swab and my oil cloth.

I ran my oil cloth over the lasgun, reciting the Litany of Cleanliness. "Let my hand wipe the grime from your perfect form, May you purify with your bolts of light." The litany was said perfectly, the grime removed. Next, I ejected the power pack and pulled back on the cover of the ignition chamber, cleaning the ignition rings thoroughly while reciting the Litany of Unjamming. "Spirits of the Machine-God, aid your servant and free his weapon so he may use it to break his foes."

The Catachan Sergeant clapped his hands. "Not bad, rook. To have memorized the Litanies and the cleaning patterns without needing to resort to the Uplifting Primer. Let's hope that you will be able to do well once the rounds start flying."

I nodded and made the sign of the Aquila. "Yes, sir."

"Good," the sergeant said, patting my back. "Now then, we've got a long way to go before we arrive, so let's get some rest, yeah?"

I've got a very good feeling about what's going to happen next if we've got veterans like that sergeant on our side.


End file.
